TRENTON — It started with John Bencivengo, and it’s going to play itself out again with Mayor Tony Mack.

The U.S. Attorney’s office is officially ready to bring out its full case against Trenton’s embattled mayor, who was indicted last week by a grand jury on eight counts of extortion, bribery and mail and wire fraud. This is fresh off a five-count conviction of the former Hamilton mayor on federal corruption charges on Nov. 21.

Their case was airtight against Bencivengo, and they got the conviction they were looking for. But victory was certainly no surprise — in fact, it was quite expected.

“When we bring charges, we will make sure that we satisfy our ethical obligations that we have enough evidence to convict,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, the lead federal prosecutor for New Jersey.

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The message is clear — these guys play to win.

“They have purely circumstantial evidence,” Mack’s attorney Mark Davis said last week after the indictment came down. “People have been indicted, charged and even convicted on circumstantial evidence. The fact that they are prosecuting doesn’t mean they have sufficient evidence to convict.”

Mack was named along with his brother, Ralphiel Mack, and Joseph A. “JoJo” Giorgianni in the eight-count federal indictment. Coming soon to a capital city near you is a circus trial to end all circus trials, if the Bencivengo affair is any indication – and this one could be three times as interesting, if that’s possible.

In that trial, tales of parties, payoffs, Russian “screw guys” and cocaine purchases for public officials shocked the citizens who voted for many of the parties involved, unknowingly bringing corruption to Hamilton, once called “America’s Favorite Hometown.”

Marilese Ljuba, the cooperating witness in the case, was the star of the trial over eight hours of testimony and the perpetrator of many of the bribes and impropriety that went down. Some citizens observing the case questioned whether she – not Bencivengo – should have been the prosecutors’ target.

Philosophically, they don’t see it that way, instead going after those in political power who are in position to do the most damage to the public trust.

“We prosecute the public officials who corrupt the process,” Fishman said. “Honest government is important to public confidence. Our citizens shouldn’t have to wonder about their mayors and whether they are thinking only about their pocketbooks instead of giving them good government.

“Our best advice to public officials is: Don’t take money on the side for doing your job.”

Over the summer, Mack had his home and City Hall raided on search warrants as part of the investigation.

“We use search warrants when we think there is a risk of destruction of evidence,” Fishman said. “We do it when we don’t think a subpoena will do the job. Many times, it’s both.”

Much of the U.S. Attorney’s office’s work is behind the scenes, though, and not as public as an all-out search. This limits the risk of contaminating the investigation or letting the wrong people know the feds are onto them too soon. Mack himself was snared by federal agents working undercover.

What most people also do not know is how much money the government gets out of these federal cases.

Fishman announced last week that the District of New Jersey collected $300.7 million in fiscal year 2012 related to criminal and civil actions. This amount included $30.8 million in criminal actions and $269.9 million collected in civil actions.

Nationwide, the U.S. Attorneys’ offices collected $13.1 billion in criminal and civil actions during FY 2012, more than doubling the $6.5 billion collected in FY 2011. A portion of this amount, $5.3 billion, was collected in shared cases in which one or more U.S. Attorneys’ offices or department litigating divisions were also involved.

The $13.1 billion represents more than six times the appropriated budget of the combined 94 offices for FY 2012, so these cases aren’t just serving justice – they’re making the government money.

With Mack officially under indictment now after a lengthy investigation, their work to close that case in court has just begun. But as far as the supposition that the prosecutors’ work is done in Hamilton now that Bencivengo is convicted, that is impossible to say.

“We have a lot of investigations going on all over the place in different stages,” Fishman said. “You can’t ever tell whether it’s over or not.”

The message to corrupt public officials is clear. The feds are watching.